“>Childproof Caps
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The State of Connecticut has created a new law that prohibits schools from recommending psychiatric drugs for any child.

Use P2P, Go To Jail
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In December 1999, David McOwen — a system administrator at DeKalb Tech, part of the Georgia state university system — installed a screensaver from Distributed.net on some of the computers at DeKalb. That was his mistake — but he never could have guessed how big a mistake that would turn out to be. As it turns out he will likely be arrested in the next few weeks on charges that have a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
In fact, McOwen is now being criminally prosecuted for the “crime.” What crime?
The state claims that the Distributed.net client cost the state $415,951.49 in bandwidth charges. The cost of bandwidth, the state says, is 59 cents per second. If you do the math at this rate, you find that the DeKalb is paying $1,529,280 per month for bandwidth. The amount they’re seeking from McOwen is roughly a third of this cost.

Suing For Not Being Aborted
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France’s highest court of appeal, the Cour de Cessation, […] has ruled that disabled children are entitled to be compensated if their mothers were not given a chance to abort the defective fetus. […] The metaphysics is breathtaking. A child stands in court, and demands the legal right never to have existed.

Dog Found Undercooked in Cooking Oil
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The owner of a dog that was found Saturday morning in a trash bin with 3 to 4 feet of cooking oil is offering a $200 reward to find the person who put her there.
“I cannot believe anyone would do this,” said Jill Ballinger, 24. “It makes me so sick. She’s the nicest dog.”
The 6-year-old red and white Siberian husky called Sadie was recovering Monday at the hospital for Veterinary Specialists of Northern Colorado.

Maintence Workers Baked Golden Brown
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A bakery company and three company directors have been fined £373,000 after two
workers died inside a bread oven.
The men were carrying out maintenance work when they became trapped inside the
machine where temperatures were above 100C.
They died from burns and heat exposure after being unable to escape…
“No-one, it seemed, looked at the temperature gauge at the side of the oven
which would have indicated it wasn’t safe to go in.”

Oregon Law Officers Cannot Tell A Lie
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — For nearly a year, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have been handcuffed in Oregon, constrained from launching undercover operations as basic as sending an agent to buy drugs from a suspected dealer…
The reason is an Oregon Supreme Court ruling that all attorneys — prosecutors included — must abide by state ethics rules against the use of deceit.
Under Justice Department policy, undercover activities by federal agents must be approved by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office. Since the Aug. 17 ruling, the U.S. attorney’s office in Portland has suspended some undercover operations and has not approved any new ones for fear of disciplinary action from the Oregon State Bar, which can disbar members.
The FBI said the cases hampered include an undercover operation against Russian mobsters, an investigation of adults who go into Internet chat rooms to try to lure children into having sex, and a probe of a check fraud scheme involving more than $1 million in losses in four states.

Crack Crappy Encryption, Go To Jail
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A Russian computer programmer who gave a presentation at the DefCon hacker convention in Las Vegas this weekend has been arrested by the FBI on charges that he wrote a program that allegedly circumvents a controversial U.S copyright law…
“The information for how to copy PDF files is being treated the same as lock picks and nuclear information,” Schneier said.

New Zealand Jumps In Lead For Most Screwed Up Kids
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New Zealand: A 14-year-old Te Puke girl was sentenced in Tauranga District
Court yesterday to three years’ jail on charges of sexual violation, attempted rape, robbery and kidnapping.
Originally a Youth Court matter, the girl was sentenced in the District Court because the charges were too serious for the Youth Court. Judge Ian Thomas suppressed the girl’s name, saying it may help with her longer term rehabilitation.
The six charges arose from an incident involving a 13-year-old boy and girl at Te Puke’s Jamieson oval on November 11 last year.
The 14-year-old was the main offender in a scene inside the unused scoreboard building where the two 13-year-olds were taken and ordered to have sex at knifepoint.